Western Philosophy

Philosophy is the structured method by which one uses reason and
linear logic to arrive at an understanding of the nature of things.

Philosophia means "lover of wisdom", and originally Philosophy
was the Jnanan Yoga or Knowledge Path to Enlightenment of the West.
This was especially so under teachers like Parmenides, Pythagoras, Socrates,
and Plato, who adopted a paradigm in which science and mysticism were not
two distinct things, but rather came together as holistic vision of Reality.
Others like Thales, Democles, Empedocles, and Aristotle adopted a more
scientific approach, albeit still acknowledging a certain metaphysical
reality.

Yet when we look at the history of Western Philosophy we see it
represents a long march from wisdom tradition to secular intellectualism.

The history of philosophy in the West stems ultimately from the twin giants
of Plato and Aristotle, especially as interpreted by the Medieval theologians (Aquinus, Anselm, etc) for whom philosophy was but the handmaiden of the Church, and then the break with institutionalised religion with the 17th
and 18th century post-rennaisance thinkers like the Descartes, Spinoza,
Leibnitz, Berkely, and others, some of whom were also neveretheless (like
Pythagoras and Plato) mathematicians or theologians. Yet already
under contemporary individuals like Hume, Hobbs, Locke and Rousseau all
trace of metaphysical reality was rejected and philosophy and understanding
was very much confined to mundane phenomena.

The strongly metaphysical German Idealism developed in the 18th and 19th century with great thinkers like Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel.

The 19th century also saw the rise of secular, moral, psychological,
and social political philosphy, with names like J. S. Mill, Jeremy Bentham,
Karl Marx, Pierce, Nietzsche, and William James.

In the 19th and 20th century also arose the two great modern currents
of western philosophy:

the Anglo-American antimetaphysical (reductionist objectivist) Analytical Philosophy (Moore, Russell, Ryle, Quinne, etc) with its early spin-off in the Linguistic Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

There were and are other philosophical movements - Phenomenology, Process
Philosophy, etc, but these are relatively minor in influence.

Links - Philosophy

Philosophy Pages by Garth Kemerling. A really excellent, informative, and well-constructed site for the study of traditional Western philosophy.
Includes a Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names; A survey of the
History of Western Philosophy, from antiquity to the present; a Timeline
of Western Philosophers which lists the important figures (and
even many that are not so well known) from 600 b.c.e to the present day,
although emphasising mostly the more recent (the last few centuries), summary
treatment of the elementary principles of Logic, and a Study Guide for
prospective students of philosophy. Highly recommended!

Philosophy Research Base - a cool new philosophy site with a nice feel. "A research tool for the general study of (mostly) western continental
philosophy, but including sections on Classic American philosophy, British
philosophy, Environmental philosophy, Non-western philosophy, Feminist
Theory, Queer Theory, etc." Execellent list of resources/links -
nicely laid out site too :-)